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Research of less-than-desirable topics (wounds, wound complications, etc.)
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Hm… I’ll have to think about that a bit.
(Gotta go for a bit. Be back later)
“Enough! Be quiet! I can’t hear myself think! I can’t hear my teeth chatter!"
Kiet: *waves happily and takes care of your cat while you’re gone*
Hearts are like matter--they can be beaten down, torn, and burned, but they cannot be destroyed.
Gotta question here. . .
So I’ve heard that alcohol poisoning is a thing.
I might have a character (an older one) die from it. Do you know the symptoms? How long can someone drink until they die?
Does it depend on how much they drink and how often?
I’m sorry if this got dark. xD
Let me know if you need any more info. 🙂
“Tears sparkle like fallen stars, the world at our fingertips, We didn’t know, It wasn't happiness.
@urwen-starial, sorry for falling under a rock, I’ve been having a rough time of it spiritually and mentally as of late. Not because of external circumstances so far as I can tell – my brain’s just a hot mess. But it’ll help focus me to answer your question, so I’ll do so as comprehensively as I can.
So, ethanol (that is, drinking alcohol) is a general nervous system depressant, meaning that it reduces the efficiency, speed, energy, and responsiveness of the nervous system overall – hence why drunks seem to lose a few dozen IQ points and generally act like dingoes when they’re deep in their cups. This affects not only your voluntary actions (parasympathetic) but involuntary actions (sympathetic) as well, meaning your heart rate, breathing, gag reflex, even your body’s ability to maintain its appropriate temperature. One of the prominent causes of death in alcohol poisoning is choking on your own vomit due to the weakening of the gag reflex and the vomiting caused by excessive alcohol consumption (as your body tries to rid itself of poison).
The symptoms of alcohol poisoning reflect extreme symptoms of heavy, rapid alcohol consumption, such as by binge drinking. Your heart-rate will be lowered, breathing rate dropping to less than 8 breaths per minute (normal is 18 – 24), and hypothermia (especially if also out in the cold) may result in cardiac arrest – besides your heart simply stopping because it’s stopped receiving nerve impulses from the brain (due to the depressant effects of alcohol). Because alcohol loosens your bowels, you will also urinate and defecate more often, resulting in dehydration and exacerbation of the above effects on the cardiac and respiratory systems.
There is some research to suggest that heavy regular drinkers develop some resistance to alcohol, to the extent that they can drink more than the teetotaler before getting to the alcohol poisoning stage. However, said regular heavy drinkers are more likely to actually get to that point than the teetotaler who may feel very sick after only a couple of drinks (but not actually in any danger of poisoning).
As for the amount you can drink before entering the range of alcohol poisoning, that is heavily dependent on body weight and gender. Because women generally have a higher fat content in their bodies due to lower muscle mass relative to men and alcohol is a water-soluble substance (and muscles are filled with water), women tend to be intoxicated more quickly than men. For example, a 160 pound man could have 9-10 drinks before he might begin suffering the warning symptoms of alcohol poisoning (around a BAC of 0.20+); a 100 pound woman would hit a BAC of 0.25 between the 5th and 6th drink, putting her at risk for alcohol poisoning.
Between a BAC (blood alcohol concentration) of 0.25% and 0.4% is the range of “alcohol poisoning” with the effects as above, including loss of consciousness. At 0.40% plus, there is the onset of coma and a high risk of spontaneous cardiac arrest.
Non nobis Domine, sed nomini, Tuo da gloriam.
Thank you! That is very helpful!
That is exactly what I needed!
May I ask, how many years of consistently drinking could a full grown man drink before he could die? Is it possible to avoid that maximum amount of drinking but still have a pretty routine thing?
I just want to make sure the one character has the right kind of symptoms, timeline to death. etc.
Thank you again for all your help!
“Tears sparkle like fallen stars, the world at our fingertips, We didn’t know, It wasn't happiness.
For whatever reason, commenting on your notification does not post a reply in our discussion, so here’s what I said in response about 4 hours ago :P.
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It depends on the amount consumed in a given sitting. Research suggests that weekend benders do more damage to the body both immediately and over time compared to drinking the same amount spread out over the week.
The life expectancy really varies wildly between individuals. In Russia, where alcoholism is a way of life for men (unfortunately) and the annual per-capita alcohol consumption (for both males and females) is 15.1 liters of pure alcohol, the male life expectancy is ~ 65 years, while the female life expectancy is around 75 – on par for the rest of Europe. Andorra, a small microstate in Spain with a per-capita annual alcohol consumption of 13.8 liters, has a life expectancy of 80 years for males and 85 for females. By comparison, the per-capital alcohol consumption of the US is 9.2 liters.Looking at your ‘average’ American alcoholic, he will probably begin developing gastric ulcers and cirrhosis of the liver around his late 40s, 50s, and worsening into his 60s – assuming he started in his teens or twenties, and with American habits of binge drinking on weekends, but just enough self-discipline to not drink himself into an immediate death, and no other chronic health problems. Death may come in his 50s or his 60s if he does not curtail his drinking habits. Alcoholism also tends to come hand-in-hand with poor diet, and comorbidities with heart conditions like atherosclerosis or diabetes increase the long-term consequences of alcoholism.
Non nobis Domine, sed nomini, Tuo da gloriam.
Thank you so much! I’m so thankful for your help!
“Tears sparkle like fallen stars, the world at our fingertips, We didn’t know, It wasn't happiness.
I’m grateful myself for the opportunity to help others. 🙂
I’m rather forcing myself to write this, but I tagged you in a post I made in the Prayer Requests. This is probably redundant as Story Embers would let you know anyway, but I’d be much obliged if you’d read it. If not – it’s a long post and I understand.
Non nobis Domine, sed nomini, Tuo da gloriam.
I find it quite amusing that the longest topic thread on the Fantasy Writers forum is primarily about wound complications, physical trauma, and alcoholism.
Non nobis Domine, sed nomini, Tuo da gloriam.
@the-inkspiller Concerning, no?
Oh, and I tried to find your post on the prayer requests forum, but I couldn’t find it somehow. :/
Hearts are like matter--they can be beaten down, torn, and burned, but they cannot be destroyed.
*grins* I actually didn’t expect this topic to take off quite like it did… I thought people would probably post a couple questions, then forget about it lol. But nooooo XD
(And thank you once more for all the help you’ve given us!!)
(Oh, did you see that I tagged you in one of my status update things? I don’t know if SE notifies people or not. Just making sure you saw)
“Enough! Be quiet! I can’t hear myself think! I can’t hear my teeth chatter!"
@anne_the_noob14 I believe I did see your status update. No worries on the reading! I don’t have a deadline on the novel, unlike many / most other tasks in my life. If I’m going to be in any position to ask people to hurry up, then I better well hurry up myself!
And I am more than glad to have been of assistance! Apart from medicine and similar topics, I’m a bit of a historian and/or simply interested in having a reason to research any given historical or military subject, so if you have questions regarding those, I’d be happy to answer them as well.
Non nobis Domine, sed nomini, Tuo da gloriam.
@the-inkspiller Ok good! 🙂
Ah nice! I’ll keep that in mind as well 😀
“Enough! Be quiet! I can’t hear myself think! I can’t hear my teeth chatter!"
*kicks awkwardly at the ground* So I haven’t been around here a ton lately so I don’t know if you’re still on here much. . . but if you are, I kinda need to know a very specific thing about eye lacerations? It’s ok if you don’t have time. XD But if you do just let me know lol
Hearts are like matter--they can be beaten down, torn, and burned, but they cannot be destroyed.
LACERATE THEM EYEBALLS!!! MUAWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
You do not have a soul. You have a body.
You are a soul. - C.S. Lewis
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